Remembering Ron Atchison

The news was hardly surprising. I had heard that Atch was declining as a result of congestive heart failure. Nonetheless, there is that sinking feeling when you hear the news, as inevitable as it may be.

I never had the pleasure of watching Ron Atchison play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He retired during training camp in 1969. My football awakening did not occur until two years later, when I was seven. Even so, I heard so much about Atch from the time I developed an interest in the Roughriders. I heard about the Hush Puppies. I heard about the cast that he used to daze opposing linemen. I heard about this venerable vet who played 17 seasons with the Roughriders.

I presumed he was a grouchy, miserable, hard-boiled ogre of a man, based on all the depictions of his playing career. He sounded like a merciless, irascible character.

With that in mind, I phoned him — with some trepidation — in December of 2005. I was beginning a Leader-Post series commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1966 Grey Cup, and Atch was an obvious person to interview.

To my surprise, he was a nice, mild-mannered man, without the gravelly voice that I expected. He talked to a complete stranger for well over an hour, telling stories about a Hall of Fame career, and about Hall of Fame teammates. Much of the content of that interview ended up appearing in West Riders Best, my book about the 1966 Roughriders.

Atch’s good name first appears on Chapter 2. It last appears on Chapter 26. That tells you something about the breadth of his career. For each chapter title, I used a quote from the chapter. Four of the 38 chapters began with a Ron Atchison quote — “The Toughest Thing I’ve Ever Had To Do,’’ “Beautiful Satisfaction’’ and “Well, This Is It, Atch.’’

Atch was 80 years old when he died Wednesday morning at Pasqua Hospital. Sadly, he was the fifth member of the 1966 team to leave us since the reunion (following Sandy Archer, Jim Worden, Ron Lancaster and Reg Whitehouse). I am so glad that the reunion was held, so that all those amazing people from the ’66 team could spend precious time together, one last time. And it was very cool to be a fly on the wall, watching them interact.

That said, I couldn’t help but spend much of Wednesday thinking of a photo. The 1966 reunion festivities included an autograph signing at the F.W. Hill Mall. That week, a picture of Ronnie and Atch appeared on the front page of our sports section. Four short years later, they’re both gone. I still can’t wrap my head around that.

Thank goodness that we had players, and people, of that calibre in our midst. Despite being Hall of Famers, they were down-to-earth and approachable. That is one of the joys of following, and covering, the CFL. However, the ability to get close to these people leaves you feeling a little emptier when they pass on. But what priceless, vivid memories remain, thanks to people like Ron Lancaster, Ron Atchison and their teammates.

This Week's Flyers

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